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The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil,    but because of the people who don't do anything about it    
Commentary

TitleDescriptionDate
Using human shields as a pretext to kill civilians Neve Gordon - A-Jazeera - "By claiming that the other side is using human shields, the attacker provides itself with a pre-emptive legal defence." - id 31/8/2016
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Has Israeli defense minister changed IDF`s West Bank strategy? Shlomi Eldar - Al-Monitor - "The Israel Defense Forces have been carrying out regular operations in the Dheisheh refugee camp and the villages of Hebron governorate, all inside West Bank`s Area A and ostensibly under full Palestinian control." - id 31/8/2016
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Hudson Institute Award to Netanyahu Named for Neocon Who Inspired Dr. Strangelove Richard Silverstein - Tikun Olam - "Israel is, after all, one of the most dangerous of the nuclear states. One of those most likely to engage in first-use of nuclear weapons would the circumstances arise." - id 31/8/2016
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Sorrow and Grace in Palestine Alice Bach - CounterPunch - "Ehrenreich lived in the West Bank intermittently between 2011 and 2014, absorbing the world of Palestine, so different from Los Angeles, his home base. He starts small: a village, a surrounded house, a Friday protest." - id 30/8/2016
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Will Israel hold referendum over two-state solution? Ben Caspit - Al-Monitor - "With the Israeli occupation of the West Bank nearing its 50th year, Israel`s peace camp is pushing the idea of a referendum over its future." - id 30/8/2016
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The need for a clear leftist alternative in PalestineHani Habib - AIC - The Democratic Alliance marks Palestinian leftist parties’ seventh attempt to unify. To ensure its survival, the party must concretize its platform [ry] 29/8/2016
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Red Rag column: Gratuitous hate; toxic Judaism; the Munich Olympics murdersGideon Spiro - The 11 who perished at Munich in 1972 could be with us today, if Prime Minister Golda Meir had not demanded that the Germans not accede to the abductors’ demands. A reminder of what has been forgotten: the original objective of the abductors was to capture the athletes, fly them to a third country and then conduct negotiations for an exchange of prisoners. The German government wanted to agree to their demands and conclude the incident without bloodshed, and received a negative reply from Golda Meir. 28/8/2016
Israel’s war on open discourse: State censorship now reaches into international news sources and social mediaDavid Palumbo-Liu--Since the beginning of this year, Israel’s attempts to control what people can read and write within the country and in occupied Palestinian territories have increased, reaching into new areas in ways that are of concern. dn28/8/2016
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If Israel’s Occupation Is Permanent, Why Isn’t It the Same as Apartheid?Jay Michaelson--Apartheid. The word is thrown around on the left-wing side of Israel-Palestine politics these days, and often it seems intended to provoke outrage, not reflection. And indeed, that’s exactly what it does on the right. But with the news on August 22 that only 58% of Israelis still support a two-state solution (and that’s counting those who support it in principle but not in practice), it might be worth taking a closer look. dn28/8/2016
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Democracy’ and ‘terrorism’ and the parameters of thinkable thoughtThomas S. Harrington--It is an experience I have had time and again over the years not only with Zionists, but their ideological first cousins, American Exceptionalists. Think of it as a form of tactical retreat designed to prevent the further exposure of what spies sometimes refer to as “sources and methods.” dn27/8/2016
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Stop With the Nonsense That Palestinians Are a Minority in Israel Gideon Levy--That’s the only way one can argue comfortably and learnedly about whether Israel is a Jewish and democratic state. The discussion is a fascinating intellectual one, with only one problem: It has long since lost relevance. A country where about half the subjects aren`t Jewish can`t be Jewish. If it If it insists on being Jewish by force, it isn’t democrati 27/8/2016
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Anne Frank Today Is a Syrian GirlNicholas Kristof - NYT "No one takes their family into hiding in the heart of an occupied city unless they are out of options,” notes Mattie J. Bekink, a consultant at the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. “No one takes their child on a flimsy boat to cross the Mediterranean unless they are desperate.”...Today, to our shame, Anne Frank is a Syrian girl." ca26/8/2016
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Three years onAmany Maged - Al-Ahram Weekly "The Muslim Brotherhood marked the anniversary with predictable slogans that could be followed on familiar hashtags. The one big surprise was Ahmed Al-Mogheir’s admission that the Rabaa sit-in, contrary to Brotherhood claims, was not “peaceful” but armed and militarised. Al-Mogheir, a Muslim Brotherhood member close to the group`s strongman Khayrat Al-Shater and known in the media as “Al- Shater’s boy”, issued this confession on 14 August, the date of the third anniversary of the breakup of the sit-in...The Egyptian media rejoiced at this admission which, by the time Al-Ahram Weekly went to press, had not yet elicited a single response from the Brotherhood." ca26/8/2016
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Israeli Think Tank: Don’t Destroy ISIS - It’s a “Useful Tool” Against Iran, Hezbollah, SyriaBen Norton - Information Clearing House "The continuing existence of IS serves a strategic purpose,” wrote Efraim Inbar in “The Destruction of Islamic State Is a Strategic Mistake,” a paper published on Aug. 2...The think tank, known by its acronym BESA, is affiliated with Israel’s Bar Ilan University and has been supported by the Israeli government, the NATO Mediterranean Initiative, the U.S. embassy in Israel and the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.BESA also says it “conducts specialized research on contract to the Israeli foreign affairs and defense establishment, and for NATO.” ca 26/8/2016
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Why Bibi is rejoicing as Obama`s term nears end Ben Caspit - Al-Monitor "“I post frequently on YouTube and Facebook,” Netanyahu said proudly. “In this day and age, we are able to skip over the traditional media and regimes and to reach the people directly. My video clips have 40 million views outside Israel. That is an enormous, unprecedented number. The world wants to hear us. That is a fact. We safeguard the Middle East and protect Europe and America by our very presence here. I hope that I will soon be able to break up the automatic majority opposing Israel in the United Nations. The situation will only get better.” That is Netanyahu, late summer, 2016. He is self-assured and optimistic, ready for a fight and glad to finally be done with Obama. If there is one thing he would rather not talk about, it`s Obama`s potential successors." ca 26/8/2016
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Has US taken on role of Israeli domestic opposition? Akiva Eldar - Al-Monitor - "While opposition leaders Isaac Herzog and Yair Lapid keep silent over growing Israeli construction in West Bank settlements, the United States has been issuing rapid-fire condemnations of the government`s actions." - id 24/8/2016
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Israeli MKs, NGO Monitor Invent False Anti-Semitic Claims Against BDS Richard Silverstein - Tikun Olam - "The Knesset foreign affairs committee began the fraud by titling the hearing, “Singling Out Jewish Students by BDS on U.S. Campuses.”" - id24/8/2016
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Thirst and narrative Adam Keller - Crazy Country - ""Twice a week the water is flowing through this little water pipe which you see here on the ground, a pipe with a 20 mm diameter. When the large container is full we distribute the water among all the families, it has to last for three days."" - id24/8/2016
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Why A Military Embargo Against Israel Is Necessary(Part 1)Presentation by Bruce Katz--23/8/2016
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This Israeli Summer, Some Palestinian Lives Matter Sayed Kashua--It’s true that swimming-pools-and-Arabs are in the “dog bites man” category,” but in summertime the discrimination against Arabs in public pools is something readers will go for. It’s not the state budget, the situation at the airport, discrimination in the job market or other racial abuse: It’s discrimination in the swimming pool, a phenomenon with a racial history, like separation on buses and at recreational sites. dn23/8/2016
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Muslims Are the Sacrificial Lambs of Our Surveillance Security Apparatus: We Should Pay Attention Aviva Stahl--Muslims suffer the most invasive, traumatic manifestations of the state’s intrusion. The hyped danger is used to justify further expansion of surveillance. dn23/8/2016
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Olympic Jews?Uri Avnery--So Israeli crowds suddenly became judo fans (some called it “Jewdo”). People who did not go wild with enthusiasm were considered traitors. We did not hear anything about the judo champions who got the gold or silver medals. Were there any? dn21/8/2016
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Alms for the enemyThe Economist--THE indictments this month in an Israeli court of two Palestinians employed by international aid agencies have become a valuable weapon in the Israeli government’s public-relations war against Hamas, the militant Islamist movement that has ruled Gaza since 2007. In the first, a local director for World Vision, one of the world’s largest Christian aid organisations, stands accused of diverting millions of dollars to the armed wing of Hamas; the money, Israel alleges, was used to buy weapons, build fortifications and pay fighters. In the second, an engineer working for the UN Development Programme (UNDP) was charged with building facilities for Hamas. dn21/8/2016
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Idolatry and Causeless Hatred in War Against Susya, Umm Al-Hiran, El-Araqib and Umm Al-KhirArik Ascherman - Times Of Israel - When our love for the Land of Israel causes us to harm our fellow human beings, created in God’s Image just as we are, our love becomes idolatry. [bz]16/8/2016
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Red Rag column: on boycott of IsraelGideon Spiro - since the author is an Israeli who supports BDS, he is preparing for the day when the Israeli government expels him back to his native Germany. gm15/8/2016
Israeli demolitions leave 53 Palestinians homeless. Edo Konrad--Israeli authorities have demolished more Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank thus far in 2016 than in any other calendar year in the last decade. dn14/8/2016
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On its 11th birthday, BDS leads nonviolent resistanceDaoud Kuttab--Many years ago, in June 1988, Israel deported another Palestinian nonviolent activist, Mubarak Awad, on the eve of the first Palestinian Intifada, during the Yitzhak Shamir administration. Both cases certainly prove that Israel can`t deal with either violent or nonviolent Palestinians; some would even say that Israelis have a much harder time with nonviolent Palestinians. dn 14/8/2016
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My Dad Taught Me Never to Root for the Israeli Delegation, Now I Understand Why Sayed Kashua--“You gave a whole country a wonderful feeling,” the prime minister told the judoka Yarden Gerbi after she won a bronze medal. The whole country – really? Are you sure about that, Mr. Prime Minister? And if there are some people who don’t feel wonderful about it? Are they considered to be outside the country’s borders? And where exactly are the borders that the prime minister is talking about? Are they also the borders of Israel’s Olympic team, whose 47 members didn’t include even one Arab? And isn’t that a good enough reason for anyone following the progress of the delegation to refrain from feeling wonderful? Is there another delegation, all of whose members are of the same religion, the same race, the same color? Is there another delegation from a democracy anywhere else whose composition is based on racial purity? dn14/8/2016
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What Bibi gets wrong about Israeli mediaAkiva Eldar--The Israeli public perceives a media landscape dominated by left-wing positions, but reality tells another story. dn13/8/2016
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Red Rag column: Storm over Mahmoud DarwishGideon Spiro - Occupaton Magazine "Seventy-one years since the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima. Remember, and do not forget: close the reactor in Dimona, dismantle Israel’s nuclear weapons in the framework of a zone free of weapons of mass destruction, before there is a nuclear holocaust; free the prisoner of conscience Mordechai Vanunu from the prison called the State of Israel." ca 12/8/2016
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Hizb ut-Tahrir: Palestine is not our main cause Daoud Kuttab - Al-Monitor "Many of the ideological concepts and doctrines of Hizb ut-Tahrir (Party of Liberation) and the Islamic State (IS) are similar. They both believe in the goal of establishing Islamic caliphate rule and in the strict interpretation of Islamic law. The two groups differ, however, in one major respect: Hizb ut-Tahrir stands categorically against the use of violence and military means to realize its ideals...Musab Abu Arqoub, a Palestinian Hizb ut-Tahrir leader, told Al-Monitor by phone from the town of Dura, in the Hebron district." ca 12/8/2016
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Fractured Lands: How the Arab World Came ApartScott Anderson - NYT "It is unprecedented for us to focus so much energy and attention on a single story, and to ask our readers to do the same. We would not do so were we not convinced that what follows is one of the most clear-eyed, powerful and human explanations of what has gone wrong in this region that you will ever read." ca 12/8/2016
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Red Rag column: Storm over Mahmoud DarwishGideon Spiro - Palestinian national poet Mahmoud Darwish is also the poet of uprooted and expelled refugees from Germany like the German Jewish satirist Kurt Tucholsky and the German Jewish writer Stefan Zweig, who committed suicide in exile after they could no longer tolerate being uprooted from the landscape and culture of their homeland. He is also the poet of the refugees who are seeking asylum in Israel, whom the government is doing all it can to expel. gm 12/8/2016
Will Netanyahu dare to engage in regional settlement? Akiva Eldar - al-Monitor - "According to a New Wave Institute poll, most Israelis support the regional guidelines proposed by the Israeli Initiative group — namely the two-state solution, normalization of economic ties with Arab states and international security guarantees." - id 10/8/2016
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Lieberman Compares Iran to Nazis, Iran Deal to Munich Pact…Again Richard Silverstein - Tikun Olam - "So there you have it: a defense minister who compares Iran to Nazi Germany; and Barack Obama to Neville Chamberlain; who deliberately lies about the views of his own military and intelligence command in the service of his own blind ideological obsession; and who lies in claiming Iran wants to eradicate Israel." - id 10/8/2016
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Obama`s legacy: Trump and the Islamic State Yacov Ben Efrat - Challenge - "The Islamic State and Trump are a wake-up call to world leaders and a warning to the next (anticipated) American president: If she continues with her husband Bill`s policies, and with Obama`s refusal to intervene, we shall have to cope, down the road, with another Trump, and Isis will grow stronger." - id 10/8/2016
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Apartheid, fascism – but mostly colonialism Michel Warschawski - AIC - Struggling against Israel as a fascist or apartheid state must be part of an anti-colonial struggle that Jews themselves participate in, entrenching divisions in a society which isn`t a homogenous block. [bz]9/8/2016
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Black Lives platform is a victory for transnational strugglesAmjad Iraqi - +972 - Black American activists have delivered a powerful message to Palestinians and other oppressed communities around the world: you are not alone in your causes. At the same time, the M4BL arguably overstepped its position when it used the word ‘genocide’. For all the crimes that Palestinians are subjected to, placing our situation on the same pedestal as history’s most egregious and murderous atrocities gives us an unwarranted exceptionalism which, in my view, undermines the transnational consciousness that we are trying to promote. [bz]9/8/2016
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How to Cure Israel`s Diplomatic `Leprosy` Haaretz Editorial - The occupation, which Israel has maintained for 50 years already, is no mere narrative. Land thefts, a suffocating closure on some two million people, settlement construction and restrictions on commerce and movement aren’t fairy tales that we can replace with more attractive stories. [bz]9/8/2016
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Elor Azaria is exposing the occupation, but he`s no silence breakerYuli Novak - +972 - In testimony at his manslaughter trial for summarily executing a disarmed Palestinian attacker, Elor Azaria is openly describing the violence, de-humanization, hatred, and settler domination that defines the occupation. But make no mistake, he’s not breaking his silence [ry] 8/8/2016
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Stop Living in Denial, Israel Is an Evil State Gideon Levy - Haaretz "About six weeks ago, Kayed was getting ready for his release. A representative of the Shin Bet security service – one of the greatest agencies of evil in Israel – even showed him a photograph of the home his family had built for him to stir him up even more ahead of his release. And then, as his family waited impatiently for him at the crossing point and Kayed grew ever more excited in his cell, he was informed that he was being thrown into administrative detention for at least another six months, without trial and without explanation. " ca 5/8/2016
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Obama: Israel Acknowledges Iran Has Abided by Nuclear Deal Associated Press & Reuters - "President Barack Obama said Israel has acknowledged Iran has abided by the nuclear deal as he vigorously denied that a $400 million cash payment to Iran was ransom to secure the release of four Americans jailed in Tehran. He defended the transaction as evidence that the nuclear accord with Iran has allowed for progress on other matters." ca 5/8/2016
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Netanyahu distorts a Palestinian’s helpless reaction to occupying soldiers to dehumanize Palestinian parents Philip Weiss - Mondoweiss "Two days ago, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted outraged commentary on a video of an encounter last Friday between a Palestinian father and son and Israeli occupying forces in Nil’in, Palestine...The Palestine Liberation Organization has responded forcefully to Netanyahu’s video, showing how he took a few comments by the father completely out of context." ca5/8/2016
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US elections won’t stop Obama from criticizing BibiAkiva Eldar - al-Monitor - "The Obama administration keeps condemning settlement construction even during the election campaign period, thus demonstrating that criticizing the policy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shouldn`t block the road to the White House." - id 3/8/2016
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Israel has won - really?Shmuel Amir - Hagada Hasmalit - It is strange, to put it mildly, how Amira Hass instructs the Palestinian leadership on how to behave and what to do. There is more than a little typical Israeli arrogance to this, the idea that she – Hass – knows better than they what they should do. It is a shame that she falls into this trap, especially since in recent days Marwan Barghouti presented a reasonable political line even without the benefit of her learned counsel. gm 2/8/2016
Saudi Arabia and the Gulf: Netanyahu`s maneuvers vs. grassroots support for Palestine Hani Habib - AIC - Israeli-Saudi relations have been warming since June 2015. Intelligence cooperation between Israel, Saudi Arabia and Gulf States is motivated by a shared hostility toward Iran. However, Netanyahu`s vision of Arab states normalizing ties with Israel and then pressuring Ramallah is doomed to fail. On the grassroots level in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, Palestine remains a very powerful and emotionally charged issue. As long as the Palestinian issue remains unresolved, the rulers can`t move beyond informal intelligence ties with Israel towards full normalization or diplomatic relations. [ak] 2/8/2016
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Police that Protect the Robber Instead of the RobbedAmos Gvirtz - Some will ask me: So are you against our right to come to the country? And I answer, I don`t know if there is or isn`t a right to come to the country. What I do know is that to the extent that we do have a right to come here, we don`t have a right to harm the already existing inhabitants. When we harm these inhabitants we undermine our right to come to the country. 2/8/2016
Treating Amona and Tira as equalsYaron London - Ynet - Unlike the people of Amona, who forcefully and manipulatively took their neighbors` property, the people of Israel`s Arab towns built on their private lands, using what little they had left in hand after the state confiscated vast swaths of land in its first years of existence. Yes, they violated state law, but the people of Amona are being given regularization after a double violation of state and international law, which doesn`t allow the transference of a state`s population onto conquered lands. [The writer is a media personality-bz]2/8/2016
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Both Republicans and Democrats Went Backward on Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Now What?Sam Bahour and Geoffrey Lewis - Forward - President Obama still has time to set the record straight. Given that the United States recognized Israel 11 minutes after it declared independence back in 1948, he can finally recognize the second of the two-states, Palestine, before he leaves office. This would place a policy marker that brings the two-state solution into full focus no matter who our next president will be. [bz]2/8/2016
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Black activists owe no apology for charging Israel with genocideDarializa Avila Chevalier and Khury Petersen-Smith--Solidarity with Black people in the US cannot be conditioned on silence over Israeli racism. Keiko HiromiPolaris 21/8/2016
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The West Bank’s new normalTom Sperlinger--About two-thirds into The Way to the Spring, Ben Ehrenreich, an American novelist and journalist, describes a video recorded in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron. An Israeli settler had climbed onto a rooftop to take down a Palestinian flag and was entangled in razor wire, “unable to go up or down.” The Palestinian videographer Shadi Sedr tried to help the settler but was rebuffed: “[The settler] couldn’t advance, but he couldn’t back down either. He couldn’t move at all without tearing his own flesh …” dn21/8/2016
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Keep Israel`s militarism away from asylum seeker childrenDror Mizrachi--But the question that needs to be asked is how, from the get go, did we get to the point in which soldiers take an active role in education — vis-a-vis refugees or citizens — all while turning mandatory enlistment into a natural and legitimate act. In this situation, and in this context alone, it seems that Liberman actually made the right decision.dn20/8/2016
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Israeli defense minister`s next target: refugee childrenAkiva Eldar--Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman has ordered IDF soldiers to cease volunteering at kindergartens for refugee children. dn20/8/2016
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Is Israel’s anti-BDS campaign fueling anti-Semitism?Michael Lesher--Equating criticism of Israel’s violations of international law with anti-Semitism is absurd. dn7/8/2016
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World Sees Israel as a Pariah State, Senior Gov`t Official Says Barak Ravid--Strategic Affairs Ministry aims to change the way Israel is perceived in the international arena, director general Sima Vaknin tells lawmakers; says victory will be achieved when Israel won`t be equated with apartheid. dn7/8/2016
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Anti-occupation activists stand with Black Lives Matter as Jewish orgs attack movement over Israel criticismsWilson Dizard--The Black Lives Matter movement’s advocacy for Palestinians has caused a rift to open over Israel between younger and older American Jews, and there’s no sign of it mending any time soon. dn7/8/2016
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State Department grilled by reportersBen White--The State Department was grilled by reporters Wednesday for not going beyond condemning and taking proper action against Israel’s illegal settlement activities in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem. dn7/8/2016
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Why did Netanyahu appoint a settler as top New York diplomat?Akiva Eldar--Former settler leader Dani Dayan, who was announced as the consul-general in New York on Monday, participates in a conference on fighting the anti-Israel boycott in Jerusalem, March 28, 2016. (photo by REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun/File Photo) dn6/8/2016
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Top iTunes podcasts on Arabs, Middle East Ray Hanania - The Arab Daily News - " You need to avoid commentators who base their analysis on subtle anti-Arab and anti-Muslim racism that is driven by politics and Western media acceptance, like those provided by Christiane Amanpour and Fareed Zakaria." - id17/8/2016
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